Stromae grew up in Belgium and was a big rap fan. “Hip-hop was like school when I was between 16 and 21,” he said earlier this month. “People like G. Dep, Black Rob and Notorious BIG were my models.”
But it was the native electro combo Technotronic – yes, they were Belgians – who suggested that he might be able to achieve something as a musician. “To me, ‘Pump Up the Jam’ is a classic,” Stromae said, before accurately capping the 1989 song’s Billboard position of No. 2 on the Hot 100 chart. “There’s something Belgian in me, maybe cynicism or irony or surrealism,” he added. “We are always a bit average – we try to do our best, but …”
Speaking via video chat from a comfortable couch in his Brussels studio, Stromae fell silent, chuckling. Context provided the punchline: Over the past decade, the 36-year-old songwriter, performer and designer, whose lanky silhouette and precise elegance evoke a friendly Buster Keaton, has become a global star with music that combines those early influences: the poetic urgency of hip-hop and the dance-like allure of electronic music.
In 2015, this son of a Belgian-Flemish mother and Rwandan father became the first French-speaking artist to sing in French as the headliner of Madison Square Garden; that same year, Kanye West joined him on the Coachella stage. But when Stromae’s success, lifted by earwigs with serious messages like ‘Alors On Danse’ and ‘Papaoutai’, seemed to reach new levels, he took a break between albums that stretched to nine years.
During that time, his reputation only grew. “He mixes this Belgian singer-songwriter tradition, rhythms from everywhere, EDM – I don’t really know where to start,” said Chris Martin of Coldplay, who played Stromae on his 2019 song “Arabesque”. “It’s like he’s downloaded the entire history of music into his brain and then sings what comes out. Everything he does has something that makes your synapses fire.”
Now Stromae – born as Paul Van Haver (his stage name is an inversion of Maestro) – is back on Friday with “Multitude”, his third album and the first since his breakthrough in 2013, “Racine Carrée”. Return trips are scheduled to Coachella on April 16 and 23 and the Garden on November 21.
The pause between releases was in part related to serious health issues Stromae had in the mid-2010s. He suffered for years after an antimalarial treatment set off a chain reaction of physical and mental ailments – as far and deep as suicidal thoughts. He addresses this subject in the new track “L’Enfer” (“Hell”), which he sang in a striking live performance on the French Evening News in January. The song’s confessional tone and unadorned presentation felt like a departure from his usual flair for high concepts and singing in character.
“I still love storytelling, but I found that the best way to tell this particular story was to use ‘I,'” he said bluntly. “That felt obvious.”
In a conversation, Stromae – relaxed in loose-fitting pants and a blue sweater (he was once known for his bow ties) – made it clear that there were other reasons for the long-wearing time of the new record.
One was the burnout that so often follows years of intense touring. Although he didn’t release his own songs for almost ten years, he kept busy. He married his girlfriend, Coralie Barbier, and they had a son. He focused on Mosaert (another anagram), the design studio he runs with his two closest collaborators – his brother, Luc Junior Tam, and Barbier. Together they worked on their own unisex fashion capsules, as they call them, as well as videos for Dua Lipa’s “IDGAF” and Billie Eilish’s “Hostage.”
The pandemic also played a role. While he could still go to his studio to compose music, Stromae said he couldn’t come up with lyrics without the chance encounters, the details of everyday life that inspire him.
His slump eventually came to an end, and he passed on a theme – folklore – to his collaborators, including 29-year-old London-based Moon Willis, who has composed, produced and performed credits for several of the new songs.
“Originally all I got was, ‘Paul is starting a new album, the theme is folkloric music,'” Willis said, laughing on the phone. “Over time, it became clearer.”
An important element were traditional music styles and instruments from all over the world: an Andean guitar-like charango, a Middle Eastern flute called a ney. For example, when mentioning his interest in using the erhu, Stromae explained, “It’s a kind of Chinese violin that you hear a lot in ‘Kung Fu Panda’. Those are all points of reference for me, a bit vulgar, a bit basic – it’s my vision of world music that comes from my hometown of Brussels.”
This also translated into the movement that accompanied the sounds. Choreographer Marion Motin, who has collaborated on Stromae’s tours for “Racine Carrée” and “Multitude”, as well as some of his videos, recalled his directive for a performance of “Santé” on “The Tonight Show” in December. “He said he wanted something like the folk dances you’d see at weddings, so I built on that,” she said in a phone interview.
Stromae said he was trying to convey warmth: “You hold each other and you have fun. It’s like dancing around a campfire.” The movements subduedly depict the subject of the song: solidarity and the work of the hard-working people who make the world go round. “It’s about those who have heavy work schedules, those who work while we party,” Stromae said. “I wanted to pay tribute to the nurses and doctors who did such an amazing job during the pandemic and were so overworked. I actually start the song with my own cleaning lady, Rosa.”
Stromae has long been committed to treating sober subjects in his music, which is characterized by its accessibility and sophistication. Aside from “Bonne Journée”, the lyrics on “Multitude” are often somber, pointed or bitter, with characters expressing loneliness and resentment, anger and frustration, set to delicate arrangements and impeccable melodies. Stromae’s hooks are unforgettable as ever – “C’est Que du Bonheur” (“It’s All Happiness”) is as catchy as it is brutally unsentimental about parenthood.
The effect can be mysterious. “Sometimes you can’t explain why you love something, and that’s what happened with Stromae’s music: I loved it right away, but couldn’t put it into words,” said French comedian and actor Jamel Debbouze (“Amélie”) , who teamed up with the musician in 2010 to deconstruct “Alors On Danse” into a hilarious (and insightful) skit.
Willis was similarly stunned by the way he had to describe his co-worker’s unique ability. “It’s like you ticked all the boxes,” he said. “The grooves actually groove, but they also have the structure of real pop songs.”
A closer look at Stromae’s French lyrics reliably reveals beautiful stories from different perspectives and subtle poetry. The serpentine Middle Eastern-influenced new track “Déclaration” (“A Statement”) features the line “Forgive me, for one is not born misogynistic, but can grow up to become so,” echoing a famous Simone de Beauvoir’s saying about becoming a woman.
“My wife and I often talk about it — she hates injustice, and let’s not lie to ourselves, misogyny and the difference between men and women in society is one,” Stromae said. “I almost didn’t put the song on the album because the topic was so topical that I didn’t want to look like I was just trying to exploit it. In the end, I chose it because it’s what I think, it contributes to the debate, and after all, there aren’t that many men taking a position there.”
Although Stromae loves elaborate concepts – after all, Belgium was also the home of surrealist artist René Magritte, and the musician has used the Magritte-esque disclaimer “This is not a …” on some of his videos – they never undermine the sincerity of his approach.
Through both his images and his music, the messages are translated all over the world, because “You feel the meaning even if you don’t understand the words,” explains Motin.
Stromae, as usual, had a modest explanation.
“I think it’s because we do things in the right order: we make the songs and then we think of ways to stage them, not the other way around,” he said. “The main goal is to make good songs. That is my primary task.”
